Foreign Service Officer: ORAL ASSESSMENT STUDY GUIDE

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Background Notes KUMAN 1. Geography: Kuman is a largely arid mountainous country on the Moccan Peninsula. The Northern Province is Kuman’s economic center; the Western Desert is the major oil-producing region; and the humid southern coast remains relatively under-populated. 2. Population: Kuman has the highest population density on the Moccan Peninsula, with half of its 20 million residents living in the Northern Province. The overcrowded port of Asima is the nation’s capital and terminus of Kuman's oil pipeline network. The dominant ethnic group is Kumani, with Janubans constituting the largest minority. Kumani is the official language, but the educated and commercial classes speak English. 3. Education and Health: The new Kumani constitution provides for universal education as a national objective, but 90% of the population remains illiterate. The national school system is under-funded, over-crowded and under-staffed. Most Kumani youth have no opportunity to attend either high school or university. Entry standards are stringent for the small National University in Asima, but its facilities are decrepit and most of the faculty either are products of discredited Soviet training or have anti-American, fundamentalist Januban sympathies. Health services are also poor. Government-run hospitals in urban areas are poorly run and ill-equipped to handle the country’s rampant TB, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Life expectancy is low (58 years urban, 48 rural), and infant mortality rates are high (250 per 1000 births). 4. Politics: A former British protectorate, Kuman was ruled by a figurehead prince until the 1985 military coup led by the USSR-supported Major Abdul Karim al-Kurbi. As head of the secular Kuman Motherland Movement (KMM), al-Kurbi was named President-for-Life and established a powerless legislature, the People’s Parliament, of regional representatives handpicked from the KMM faithful by al-Kurbi and his Consultative Council of cronies. The wily al-Kurbi was quick to see the writing on the wall as the Soviets began to disengage from other Third World clients in the late 1980s. In the 1990s, he called a formal end to singleparty rule and announced a fifteen-year transition to democracy and a free-market economy. Having had himself “elected” by the Parliament for a first seven-year term as President to kick off this transition, al-Kurbi defeated two other KMM candidates six years ago for another sevenyear term as President. Al-Kurbi’s true democratic resolve will be tested by next year’s free elections. Under Kuman’s new constitution, the executive remains strong, but more diffuse, with the power to dismiss a sitting Parliament to call for new elections. Although still under KMM control, the existing Parliament is already engaged in the political process. Under al-Kurbi’s watchful eye, it has passed new voting rules and begun to liberalize tax, trade and foreign investment regimes; end state censorship; and curb police abuses.
Kuman’s recent emergence from a combination of feudalism and socialism and its widespread poverty and illiteracy provide a weak foundation for representative government. However, the country is united in its support for democratic reform. Over a dozen political parties have formed (mostly along ethnic lines). More than 20 independent newspapers, many just xeroxed broadsides, now represent every shade of the political spectrum, but their audience is small. As up to 90% of Kumanis are illiterate, newly independent radio and TV stations are the main sources for news. Religion is a rising political force. Traditional local tribunals, known as Yurtbars, are heavily influenced by Januban religious extremists. The newly formed, albeit disorganized, All Januba Party (AJP) is now the second largest political party. Fundamentalist extremism, combined with lingering Marxist-era anti-Americanism, increasingly influences university and secondary school populations. Lack of material prospects has also led many to reject Western values of which they have little understanding. 5. Economy: Years of Marxist mismanagement left the country's infrastructure in shambles. Budgetary woes forced the GOK to allow agricultural, refinery and once-thriving port facilities to deteriorate. The government sector continues to dominate Kuman's economy, accounting for 55% of the country's annual GDP and crowding out investment in the small private sector. Oil is the Government's largest revenue source, but oil production is still not growing fast enough to slow the growth in the budget deficit (an estimated $1.1 billion this year). With the blessing of President al-Kurbi, Parliament enacted a new investment law to encourage more private-sector and foreign investment in the hope of alleviating both Kuman’s budgetary woes and its severe unemployment problem (estimated at 40% of the urban labor force, perhaps double that in rural areas). Except for the oil and gas sector, however, private investment continues to lag, and the country has had to depend increasingly on international lending institutions. KUMAN KEY PERSONNEL
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Page 4 and 5: Introduction The Foreign Service is
Page 6 and 7: however, at how well you recall you
Page 8 and 9: an effective Foreign Service Office
Page 10 and 11: critical that candidates fully unde
Page 12 and 13: describe their experiences; they ne
Page 14 and 15: The questions are designed to asses
Page 16 and 17: GROUP EXERCISE CANDIDATE INSTRUCTIO
Page 18 and 19: Candidates will be assessed in this
Page 20 and 21: COUNTRY PLAN FOR KUMAN Our principa
Page 24 and 25: American Embassy Asima Ambassador C
Page 26 and 27: Public Affairs Officer Art Pressman
Page 28 and 29: Commercial Counselor Darcy Colbert
Page 30 and 31: The Peace Corps notes that the proj
Page 32 and 33: There are those in the Embassy who
Page 34 and 35: computers and specialized software
Page 36 and 37: transactions over the Internet, wit
Page 38 and 39: for other entrepreneurs such as who
Page 40 and 41: sympathies. He says such distrust c
Page 42 and 43: In completing this practice Case Ma
Page 44 and 45: Partial Organization Chart American
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Page 50 and 51: Johnson, Chris From: Sent: To: Subj
Page 52 and 53: United States Senate Rayburn Office
Page 58 and 59: American Beverages Kuman Office Jul
Page 60 and 61: The 13 Dimensions - A Quick Referen
Page 62 and 63: Clearances Required After Passing t
Page 64: onuses -- is dynamic; that is, peop

Foreign Service Officer: ORAL ASSESSMENT STUDY GUIDE

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